Friday September 27

Most years we do a mother daughter trip, although this year's trip was later in the season than most years. I'd done a short September trip with a friend but it was so cold and rainy it wasn't worth writing a trip report about, although it had left me hankering to go back to Algonquin.

As the weather forecast was beautiful, we decided to do a last minute trip to McCraney Lake, from September 27 to October 1st. Its quite the drive up from southern Ontario. Because I had to take care of a business appoinment in Barrie first, I didn't get to the access point until shortly after lunch.

We'd never been to access point 4 (Rain Lake), so all of it was new to us. We met up at the permit office in Kearny. Joyce had already picked up a 16 ft lightweight canoe from AO in downtown Huntsville on her way up. There was no one ahead of us so we left quickly from the permit office. Joyce, who has maps on her phone, told me to turn left at the LCBO. We figured it would take about half an hour to get to the access point. I drove out of the parking lot ahead of her, but realized after a while that there was no LCBO to be found. I turned around, and sure enough, didn't see Joyce behind me either. Uh-oh! Back to the permit office then.

When I asked, it turned out I had turned the wrong way out of the parking lot and had driven down the wrong road for a bit. I drove the short distance the correct way this time and found the LCBO. No problem! We were eager to get to the access point. Each of us had brought a lunch with us that we ate in our vehicles, driving down the access road that displayed stunning colors all around us. What a treat!

Views along the access road to Rain Lake ...

Once at the access point it didn't take long to park, although the parking lot was mostly full. We had seen on the online reservation map that all of Rain lake was booked solid for the weekend, as well as all lakes close to it.

We quickly loaded up the canoe, wanting to be on our way as it was getting rather breezy. After 5 minutes of paddling we realized we'd forgotten the sausages for dinner over the fire in the cooler box in the van. Back we went. Joyce quickly ran out to the van and just as quickly jumped back on board and off we went again to the McCraney portage, which was reached in no time.

This portage is 1.8 km long, but level and I had read reports a cart could be used on it. I had asked my hubby to make me one, which he did .. out of solid steel, a quarter inch plate. No need for a gym membership anymore! The wheels were to go under the middle of the canoe, and then be strapped down to 4 eyes he welded onto the cart frame. We had had no time to try it at home to see if it worked, and we were a bit worried about it as it was NOT light weight. We had a plan B. Stash it away somewhere if all else fails.

The wheels that took us along the portage ...

We managed to get the boat on the wheels and loaded .. with 2 heavy packs, a food bag and some loose things. For all of the cars and people in the parking lot, we didn't meet anyone on the portage. The cart balanced the canoe reasonably well. But, the dancing over rocks and the roots here and there on the portage managed to loosen the straps. So we had to stop a couple of times to adjust them. It became more difficult when we hit a series of deep mud holes, that we had to maneuvre around. We never did get stuck, but it took some power to get through them. In the end, Joyce would have rather just hiked everything across. But with her being 30 years younger and in tip top shape I would have expected that. This old girl, with an annoying back injury that has the most uncanny ways in flaring up and sciatica pain in a leg, was thankful we were across in one trip and not have to go back for more. It took us about a half an hour and took much of my energy. Joyce thought it was a walk in the park.

We enjoyed a short stop at the nice sandy beach at the unofficial end of the portage and realized the breeze really was getting to be more of a hard-blowing wind. Thankfully we had it in the back paddling the short river to the beaver dam, and enjoyed the peacefulness of the paddle. The beaver dam was coming into sight and it had to be lifted over. However, we realized the water was really low well before we got to the dam. Bottoming out, we had to wade some of the creek and line the boat to the dam over very slippery stones. It was easy pushing across the dam but again we had to wade a bit to get to deeper water.

Crossing Little McCraney the wind had become a windstorm. As we came into the open on to McCraney, the waves were coming right at us. They were great big rolling waves that crashed against the bow of the boat and splashed water right in. Yikes! We decided to head to the left of the lake and closer to shore, since we had already seen that the first site on the right was taken. It was not a far paddle to get to the first point site, but we had to paddle our hearts out against that storm and wave action. We are strong paddlers, but we made very little headway for quite some time. Pushing hard, we eventually landed on the eastern shore point side and got out on the rocky beach to see what it looked like.

The site sloped up, was uneven, but quite large. We immediately liked the fire pit setup, but did not care for the rest. We decided to wait it out for a bit to see if the wind would drop, but no such luck. Within a half hour, dark clouds rolled in. There was no moving on if we wanted to stay dry and safe. So, we each found a flat tent spot away from the point, protected from the wind from the north and east. It would have to do for the day. We whipped up the tarp to have a dry spot to eat and found a brand new camp chair leaning against a tree behind a large stump. It must have fallen over and someone forgot it. No problem. We had only brought chairs that sit flat on the ground.

It started raining and we realized we would not be able to roast our sausages over an open fire that night. So in the frying pan they went. They tasted just fine on a bun. Tired from the long drive, the portaging, the paddle in and the fight to get to the campsite, we turned in when it got dark (7.30 pm) to read for a while. Hunting around for my emoji light I realized that when I was putting new batteries in it at home, I never put it back where it belonged. Shoot. No light! Joyce had her cell phone light, so I got her flash light. However, she'd forgotten to put new batteries in it and wasn't sure how long they would last. I always have extra batteries, but of course, the wrong size for her flash light. Sigh!

In the end it didn't matter a whole lot. With the rain falling on the tent and the wind not letting up at all we went to our tents, read for a short while and then the old body started acting up. It was not a good night, suffering from sciatica pain that shoots into my hip then down my leg, I could not get comfortable no matter what, my back ached something fierce and the wind just howled. It became quite cold outside, but layered between a good down sleeping bag and a thick lightweight liner made from lambskin fleece, I was plenty warm enough. Somewhere along the line I must have slept a bit, but was definitely not rested and was stiff as a board the next morning. As Joyce had the sleeping bag rated to -25C ( in conversation called 'the bear' ) to sleep in, she slept like a log.

Saturday September 28

The wind had dropped towards morning and we got up to a beautiful sunny day. It was amazing. The hills surrounding McCraney where spectacular with the colors. We sat, looked, enjoyed, ate breakfast and drank what I think was a gallon of coffee. The conversation settled around if we should move or not, but the site was growing on us. We noticed that on the left of our point we had a wonderful bay full of old white bleached cedar tree stumps and old washed up logs, that were easily accessible from our site. Joyce went out smiling, saw in hand and happily collected quite the stag of fire wood for the evening. Nice arm-thick, and dry as a bone. Yeah!

Looking east from our campsite (#9 on PCI map)...

Looking west from our campsite ...

We knew the lake was booked solid for the night (Saturday) and if we wanted to see some other campsites, we'd better paddle around before everyone streamed in. Right across from us, alongside our bay, was a small site that would not get much sun, it was deep in the trees. However, it was adjoined by a rocky beach, so landing was not difficult. We paddled out and around and entered Stutter Creek, where the water was glasslike with nothing moving. The trees were stunningly colorful and not a person to be seen. We hoped for moose, but no such luck.

Heading into into Stutter Creek ...

While paddling on towards the Clara Lake portage, which is situated right across a small island, we noticed that the small island really was a fantastic site. But it was occupied so we couldn't go see it. The portage to Clara Lake is an unmaintained portage and we just wanted to hike it. It is a lovely trail, with lots of waterfalls and a small gorge to climb along .. up and over a creek to the other end.

At the start of the Clara Lake portage, looking south ...

On the portage to Clara Lake ...

Unfortunately, I had not been feeling well since late in the morning, after having drunk juice I'd brought with me from the day before. As I don't care much for plain water, I had bought a 1L box of shelf stable juice mix, which had filled my water bottle. After sometime the nausea had gone away. However, after having had some more juice when we landed at the portage, my stomach really rebelled about halfway into the portage walk. Uh-Oh!

Walking was no longer possible and I needed to sit down to see if it would settle down. Joyce walked on, while I fought the nausea. It rendered me shaky. I decided not to carry on, although I did feel better after a few minutes. While slowly returning to the canoe, I had a bite from a bar of some kind, which helped too. By now I figured out the juice had probably gone bad. I immediately threw it away once I got back to the boat. Joyce took a picture of the campsite closest to the portage on Clara Lake, although someone had lunch there and maybe went for a hike, as there was some items on the site but she did not see people .

Hike-in site on Clara Lake, closest to the 1140m portage ...

Once back at the McCraney end of the portage, we paddled around the small island and headed for the big island, By now we were noticing lots of canoes on the lake, although the south facing site on the large island was not taken. We stopped and took pictures. It was a small site, grassy, with a long sloping rock into the water and only 2 small tent sites further into the trees. One of the sites was in a depression and might not be the driest spot in rainy weather.

The afternoon was cooling down, so it was time to head back and relax. Sitting in the sun and looking over the lake was the best. A mother merganser and her half grown offspring preferred to sit on the rocks beside our site and we watched how they settled down for the night.

Campsite on the south side of the large island ...

We had a wonderful, very long-lasting fire and were sitting comfortably out of the wind, which had turned around to now come out of the north. We realized that this site was actually a really good site, compared to the rest we had seen up to that point. The campsite was large, had 3 tent pads, a great rock setup around the fire pit, easy access through the rocky beach, and lots of firewood. We were happy we didn't move as we had originally planned to do.

Our food for this trip was a mixture of 'Happy Yak' meals that had been left over from an earlier trip and 'easy-make' meals thrown together at home. The mornings were quite cool, so hot drinks and hot cereal were on the menu. Porridge made with milk powder for a creamy consistency and covered in brown sugar helped start the morning. Lunches of heated naan with cheese in the middle then folded over so it looked like a grilled cheese worked very well too. And hot dinners with loads of coffee, and tea throughout the day made for well-filled stomachs.

Another cold night followed, but this time I slept decently, and was not as sore.

Sunday September 29

This day, an the exodus back to the access point was expected. We were not disappointed. We knew there were nine campsites on the lake, and whole flotillas of boats came by. Yet we had not heard anybody, as the sites are spaced a nice distance apart.

By early afternoon, with the warm sun now out, we decided to go and do the portages to Way and Wee Lakes, and maybe go as far as Islet Lake. The start of the portage from McCraney to Way Lake was an up and over which had a steep rock face down to the water on the other end. Carefully getting in to paddle the 50 ft across to the next portage we realized getting out that the mud was deep and there was no great way to get out. We managed, but I did sink up to my knee in the muck with one leg, and hiked the 570m portage to Wee Lake. That portage had quite an uphill swing to it at the beginning before it leveled out some. At the other end, another mud bath was waiting. We had not taken the canoe, and for some reason I found the short portage hard. Knowing there were more portages to come before getting to Islet and then have to go all of them back again too, my enthusiasm dwindled quite fast. Joyce found them all easy, so it must have been me.

Wee Lake, more of a pond ...

We decided not to carry on. It was getting late in the afternoon and my energy just didn't seem to want to return today either. So we quickly changed plans. The canoe was rather unhandily situated at the portage and it was easiest for me to just get in the bow, thereby making Joyce the stern paddler. Oh boy, this was a first, never have we changed seats over all the years that we've paddled and it never was something we thought of trying. Why mess with a good thing? Well, there's gotta be a first time. It couldn't be that difficult? Oh man, we tried, and laughed, but could not manage to keep the canoe going in any direction but around its own axis. My tendency to want to steer backfired as that made the canoe lurge to one side. Getting stern warnings to NOT DO THAT, we fought our way a few feet at the time towards McCraney.

I found it very hard on my arms to be the bow paddler. And my back soon decided it wasn't loving this either. But we battled on and paddled out to the west side of McCraney, to see the site there which we anticipated to be a real good site, and then paddle along the shore to go see the north island site on the large island which was now empty.

Landing at the first site, we hastily decided to change positions in the canoe back to the way we always had it. We had got the hang of paddling straight after trying for a while, before stopping at the first site. It turned out though that the campsite was very small, with only 1 small tent spot at best. But it had a long rocky beach with easy unloading and it gets lots of sun.

Northmost campsite on the west side of McCraney Lake (#1 on PCI map) ...

The realization we were on the lake alone today and tonight, was a bit of a strange feeling, that hasn't happen too often in our travels. We paddled over to the large island's north site and it turned out to be a beauty, with room for lots of tents under the pines. Although its beach was rocky, it was sandier then all the other sites. Unfortunately, its enormous fire pit was full to the rim with ashes, and some 'bright spot' had tried to burn fresh pine logs. That was a shame because nNot only did they not burn, the pit was overloaded with them.

Returning to our own site, we talked about that maybe we should paddle out Monday instead of Tuesday. Until now the weather forecast had been spot on, and a large rain system was due to move in on Monday night. Better to take our time tomorrow than packing up soaked and wet on Tuesday morning. We were able to gather lots of wood and had a great fire for hours that night, enjoying the fact that this late in the season it had been that nice and warm.

Monday September 30

We got up leisurely on this morning, another sunny one, and took our time eating breakfast, drinking coffee and then packing up. It was remarkably easy to get back to the beaverdam now we didn't face a wind storm. Once at the portage, we strapped the wheels under again and towed the canoe and packs back to Rain Lake. We met up with an older couple that also had a cart, but the wheels were under the back end of the canoe and they were lifting all the weight up with a paddle tied to the bow so each walked on a side of the canoe pulling it. It looked hard to do.

In the mean time, Joyce reasoned that maybe if we carried one pack, the canoe would move around less on the wheels. That was exactly what happened. There are some adjustments to be made though. It needs to have a v-shape holder to better stabilize the canoe on the wheels, so it won't wiggle loose. And it would be GREAT if it was about 10 pounds lighter. But I'm not about to tell hubby that!

We made it back to the parking lot dry, but here dark clouds were starting to appear. The thunderstorm that developed that evening knocked out the hydro in Barrie for quite some time and I was happy that we had come out of the park a bit earlier.